Bran, Romania: SmartCode Workshop

The second ESUA event was a town planning workshop in Bran in Romania, developing the first SmartCode for a European community.

The workshop had 13 international ESUA partner representatives and 18 Romanian and Norwegain students participating. The test course was finalised with a study trip of Transilvania to relate the project to restoration crafts training and cultural heritage.

On multiple levels the workshop was a great success:

The ESUA project has advanced a great deal in the production of it’s curriculum, with a sketch setup produced for the curriculum handbook.

The test course was overall rated as a success by it’s students and professional participants, with students feeling an impact by their course on both their future career and their current university education.

The test course achieved it’s promise to the local community of Bran by producing a proposal for a new town plan and coding regulations in the form of a new SmartCode adapted to Bran.

By achieving all it’s three main goals, the Bran test course shows that it is possible to combine education (of the students), research (development of the curriculum) and practical field work (town plan and SmartCode) into one event for the mutual benefit of all involved. The test course has given valuable feedback for developing new courses in sustainable, context-based urban design not currently taught in Europe.

Bran Town Code

The code was prepared in August 2007 by an international team during a six-day planning charrette in Bran, Romania. Team members came from Romania, Norway, Belgium, and the United States. Two previous charrettes were held in Bran in the summers of 2005 and 2006, with many of the same team members. A regional land use study, a local master plan, and architectural typological studies were produced. Finally, the team created a regulating plan for new zoning and design standards and customized this code for the municipality.